Risk
by HerRenegadeHeart
Summary: But when he tried to climb out from underneath her, she didn't move. She was dead weight. His heart spiked with fear. "Higgins?" (Part 4 of the Defenseless Series)


_"I tell myself I have to build defenses_  
_'Cause once you are in love, you are defenseless_  
_Everything was easy when it meant less_  
_But once you are in love, you are defenseless."_

Askjell _\- To Be Loved ft. AURORA_

**#4 of the Defenseless Series**

* * *

Magnum saw stars and the wind was ripped from his lungs as he was blindsided and slammed to the ground just as a hail of bullets shattered the silence of the warm Hawaiian evening. "Down, stay down," he heard Higgins say in his ear. Magnum immediately picked up on the strain in her voice, in the way she wheezed the words.

"Hig—" Another volley of gunfire cut him off, bullets _zing_ing off of the metal of the gray coupe they were sheltered behind. He felt Higgins wrap an arm around his head, forcibly tucking him closer to her. _Shielding me_, he realized.

Boots on concrete echoed through the car park. _Multiple assailants approaching fast_. Magnum's brain processed everything at lightning speed. His gun had been knocked out of his hand when he'd hit the ground. It had skidded off under the car adjacent to them. There was no way he'd get it in time.

He had to try. _He had to try_. Or at the very least, he was going to die on his feet. He knew Higgins would feel the same.

But when he tried to climb out from underneath her, she didn't move. She was dead weight. His heart spiked with fear. "Higgins?"

Boots rounded the car. It was too late. They were out of time.

Magnum lifted his head to glare down the man with the semi-automatic rifle aimed at his head. He heard others approach behind them. The man grinned, then aimed.

_Pop-pop-pop! _

With cries of pain, the men around them suddenly dropped to the ground.

More boots approached, only this time Magnum was met with friendly faces. Katsumoto and several of men at the front, Rick and T.C. at the rear. Magnum almost quipped about timing, but then he remembered. "Higgins!"

Rick and T.C. darted over and helped Magnum roll her off of him and onto her back on the pavement. "Higgins?" he questioned, leaning over her.

Her eyes were open, but her face was red and pinched with pain. He was instantly relieved to see that she was alive, but also recognized that she was struggling. "Are you hit?" he asked, a hint of fear tinging his words, "_Were you hit, Higgins_?" He didn't see blood.

Higgins gave him a jerky nod and her hands came up to the collar of her shirt, tugging at it. "I can't—"

_Breathe_. She couldn't breathe.

Vest! They were wearing bulletproof vests. They were dealing with arms traffickers, so Katsumoto had insisted on it. But because they had wanted to blend in, they had worn them underneath their clothing.

Magnum didn't hesitate, he reached up under Higgins' lilac top and pulled the velcro straps free, loosening her vest. "There you go. You're okay," he soothed. "You got the wind knocked out of you. Slow breaths." He could see now the four holes in her shirt, one to the sternum, the other three clustered lower and to the right. If she didn't end up with any internal bleeding, she was at the very least going to be bruised and extremely sore for a while.

Her hands were shaking as she held onto the top of the vest, pulling it downward away from her throat. There some something in her eyes, a panicky look. Magnum knew how painful and terrifying it was to have all of the wind knocked out of your lungs by the sheer force of a bullets impact. Higgins had probably experienced it before as well, but no matter how many times it happened, the panic was always there. The lack of air, the rush of adrenaline, the burning pain - the brain and body couldn't help but produce that natural reaction.

"Hey, Higgins, watch me," Magnum requested, a calmness in his tone that he didn't quite feel inside. Her eyes met his, pupils dilated. "Breathe with me, okay?" She frowned at him and he smirked. "In… and out… C'mon. In and out." She started to try. "Good. Again. In… and out…" He breathed with her until her panic seemed to recede and she was breathing as normally as she could. Her eyes didn't leave his the entire time.

"EMS is on the way," Katsumoto reported, getting off of his phone. "You good, Higgins?"

"Brilliant," she strained out, glancing at the man. She started to attempt to push herself up into a sitting position, but then seemed to rethink the idea and settled back down onto the ground.

With her color returning more-or-less to normal and her breathing evening out, Magnum felt suddenly overcome with irritation. _If she had died…_ He couldn't even finish the thought.

"That was stupid," he stated. "You could have been killed."

Her eyebrows quirked downward and she returned her attention to him. "Well, you certainly would have been had I not."

"Besides the point," he argued.

She looked both annoyed and a bit confused. "Don't be ridiculous."

"I'm serious—"

"Seriously mad."

"Mad as in angry, _yeah_," he shot back.

"Right then," she said shortly, consonants crisp, "Next time I will simply allow them to shoot you, shall I?"

Magnum opened his mouth to retort, but was interrupted.

"How about next time you _both_ don't be stupid and actually stay where I tell you?" Katsumoto deadpanned.

"Man's got a point," T.C. agreed, crossing his arms and nodding his head.

Rick nodded in time and accordance with him. "You really _don't_ have to go rushing into danger every. single. time. The amount of gray hairs you two are giving me..."

Magnum used that moment of levity to take a breath. He looked back at Higgins and clearly saw the pain behind her eyes. She'd saved him, shielded him, taken multiple bullets for him. It wasn't every day that you met someone willing to take that kind of risk. He honestly didn't know quite how to process that level of selflessness when it came to her. He was in awe and grateful, but also terrified. He wasn't sure what he would do if he lost her.

He sighed. "Higgins…"

Her expression seemed to reflect back everything that he was feeling and it made his heart speed up just so. She offered him a small smile. "I know, Magnum. I know."

_END_

* * *

_Author's Note_: I feel such feelings when I write these two. I feel like the writers and directors of the show must as well, just by how they constantly have Magnum and Higgins watch each other. *happy sigh* Wouldn't you agree?


End file.
